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Friday, October 2, 2015

Under a Blood Red Moon

A couple of days ago, I was sitting on the couch reading when Addison came in and announced there was a total lunar eclipse occurring in just a few minutes. Cristi was still out running, but as soon as she returned, our family migrated out to the front porch to watch the shadow slowly overtaking the moon.

Cristi suggested that I get the camera and capture it, but I was skeptical. I mean, how well can a black moon show up against a black sky. Nonetheless, I quickly translated "Do you want to..." to "You need to...", and, boy am I glad I did (Thanks, sweetheart!)!

The first picture wasn't that spectacular. It simply showed a bright moon steadily becoming overshadowed.

As the shadow, grew, however, I started playing with the camera more, adjusting the shutter speed. It wasn't long until I began to clearly see a shadowed moon that looked like a dark, textured sphere -- maybe like some artistic sci-fi rendering -- rather than a dark blob of nothingness.

This discovery suddenly fueled my interest in playing with the camera's shutter speed, along with the age-old photography maxim of "just keep pushing the button." As the shadow continued to fall, the blood-red moon phenomenon became more and more apparent, and my camera handled the occasion brilliantly, producing photos I didn't know would be possible.

I'm still amazed at the beauty of this phenomenon and thankful for a camera that enabled us to enjoy it even more (and for longer!).